The embodiment of the disclosure is generally related to toll billing and, more specifically to billing a rented third party transport including an on-board unit.
A toll road is a road on which a toll authority collects a fee for use. Two variations of toll roads exist: barrier toll plazas and entry/exit tolls. On a mainline toll system, all vehicles stop at various locations on the highway to pay a toll. While this may save money from the lack of need to construct tolls at every exit, it can cause traffic congestion, and drivers can evade tolls by going around them. With entry/exit tolls, vehicles collect a ticket when entering the highway, which displays the fares it will pay when it exits, increasing in cost for distance traveled. Upon exit, the driver will pay the amount listed for the given exit.
There are an increasing number of toll roads having different toll payment systems, which causes loss of time that could result in arriving late to meetings and missing flights and personal events. Presently, toll booth customers need to carry spare change and/or collect toll receipts for expenses. Additionally, customers could be in the wrong lane, either the exact change lane without the exact change, or in an express lane without a transponder. The embodiment of the disclosure allows a customer to rent a car and travel without dealing with loose change, mandatory cash lanes or toll receipts. The embodiment of the disclosure allows toll fees to be included as part of a rental of a third party transport and consolidation of the toll fees and reduced traffic congestion and vehicle emissions.
The term turnpike refers to the pike or long stick that was held across the road, and only raised or turned aside when the traveler paid the toll. Travelers have disliked toll roads not only for the cost of the toll, but also for the delays at tollbooths.
An adaptation of military “identification friend or foe” or RFID technology, called electronic toll collection, is lessening the delay incurred in toll collection. The electronic system determines whether a passing car is enrolled in the program, alerts enforcers if it is not. The accounts of registered cars are debited automatically without stopping or even opening a window. Other systems are based on GPRS/GSM and GPS technology. One of the advantages of GPS-based systems is their ability to adapt easily and quickly to changes in charge parameters.
Some systems use a small radio transponder mounted in or on a customer's vehicle to deduct toll fares from a pre-paid account as the vehicle passes through the toll barrier. This reduces manpower at tollbooths and increases traffic flow and fuel efficiency by reducing the need for complete stops to pay tolls at these locations.
By designing a tollgate specifically for electronic collection, it is possible to carry out open-road tolling, where the customer does not need to slow at all when passing through the tollgate. The state of Texas is testing a system on a stretch of Texas 121 that has no tollbooths. Drivers without a TollTag have their license plate photographed automatically and the registered owner will receive a monthly bill, at a higher rate than those vehicles with TollTags.
Electronic toll collection (ETC) systems also have drawbacks. A computer glitch can result in delays several miles long. Some state turnpike commissions have found that such a system would be ineffective because most of the people who use the turnpike are not commuters, are from states that have no ETS on turnpikes, or are from states that don't have a turnpike at all. The toll plazas of some turnpikes are antiquated because they were originally built for traffic that stops to pay the toll or get a ticket.
Currently meeting car rental agency and car rental customer needs with respect to toll billing presents difficulties. Currently car rental customers are unable to use the fast toll lanes. The only alternative available to car renters was to line up at tollbooths and wait to pay tolls. Some car renters find themselves under significant time pressure and run the booths, causing problems and expense for toll authorities and car rental agencies. As electronic toll collection technology has improved, toll authorities have begun to hold rental agencies accountable for toll violations.
Therefore, what is needed is a method of utilizing wireless communication between an on-board computer system and road-side or satellite based wireless communication systems in order to make available toll billing to third party operated vehicles. More specifically, what is needed is a method, computer readable media and system for billing a rented third party transport utilizing an on-board unit.